Standing In Front Of You
by smilelikey0umeanit
Summary: Strickland has rescued Sandra from a burning building- where will this act lead them? This is far from my best work but I'd like to share it with you anyway as New Tricks fic is so few and far between, especially Sandra/Strickland fic! Title unashamedly nicked from a Kelly Clarkson song. Rated T just to be safe.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I only own New Tricks in my dreams.

The sound of a gentle knock on the door awoke her from a hazy slumber, which was almost instantly replaced by a sharp pain in her throat and chest. She sighed, sitting up and brushing her hair away from her face in an attempt to make herself look at least half decent, or as decent as she could look under the circumstances.

"Sorry, should I come back later?" he asked apologetically, still with one hand lingering on the door handle.

"Of course not, I need to thank my saviour as soon as possible" she replied, directing a smile at him whilst adjusting the pillows behind her back. He returned the smile tentatively and moved to sit in the chair beside her bed. They sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes, neither knowing quite what to say.

"You know you don't need to thank me, I'd do it again if I needed to" he offered, but she simply shook her head.

"I'd be dead if you hadn't got me out of there," she stated bluntly, "thank you is all I can say when I owe you my life."

He looked down, partly embarrassed and partly still in disbelief at the day's events. "They would have got you out eventually, you know, I just…acted on instinct, I suppose." He trailed off, reliving the rush of fear he'd felt upon hearing that she was unconscious inside a burning house.

"Is it true you carried me all the way to the ambulance? I blacked out after Stokes hit me," she said, based on word from Jack, pausing as he nodded modestly.

"In that case, I'm sorry if I put your back out." He laughed, seeming to relax into the chair at last.

"I can barely walk with the pain," he joked, returning her grin.

"Warn me a few weeks in advance the next time you want to rescue me Superman, I'll try to shift a few pounds beforehand," she smirked, her voice starting to crack from the smoke inhalation. Being left for dead in a burning building had its negatives. She reached for the water on the bedside table, only to realise that he had beaten her to it and was offering her a glass. She smiled and accepted it gladly.

"You don't need to lose any weight, you're perfect as you are" he said, looking into her eyes and then down again as he realised how little he'd thought about that before he said it. Almost like it came naturally to him, which of course it did, but he could never tell her that. Finally looking back into her blue eyes, he saw that she was in deep thought. She continued to stare at him for a long moment, until breaking the silence with a seemingly careless "have dinner with me?"

Not quite believing what he was hearing after years of rejection, even if it was understated and meant in the most considerate of manners, he still had to ask. "Are you sure?"

A fleeting look of guilt touched her eyes. "Definitely. Just a thank you, you know, I just…want to."

"Alright then- on one condition," he challenged, attempting to make himself look as though this wasn't what he'd wanted for years. She sighed, faking exasperation. "I pay half."

"Fair enough, I suppose." She wasn't in the mood for negotiating.

"It's a deal then. Looks like I've taken more than my allotted visiting time, I'd better go." He stood, glancing at an impatient Gerry through the window. He had his hand on the door handle when he was halted once again by her voice. "Rob?"

"Yes?"

"Can it be a sorry for rejecting you so many times dinner as well?"

He paused for a long moment. "Buy me a drink and I'll consider it." He grinned, before exiting the room and thanking his lucky stars that he'd been going to the gym enough recently to lift her.

A/N: I'm willing to continue with this if anyone is interested? x


	2. Chapter 2

_A/N: The snow has finally given me a chance to write the next chapter to this. I apologise if this gets too cheesy to handle!_

Two months had passed since she'd left hospital. Her lungs had returned to full health, thankfully, but Rob had returned to simply being her boss. The promised meal had been replaced by a coffee over a mountain of paperwork: they both felt unable to share dinner when they were investigating the case of a murdered child, whose killer was probably living the life of Riley in the Mediterranean. Instead, they shared the desire to catch this man, to return him to the UK and lock him up, preferably for life.

Once this was over, she had hoped for the planned meal to happen. Ever since he saved her life, she had felt some sort of connection to him, some sort of hope that held them together, that hadn't existed before. This was the reason why, on a dull Thursday afternoon, she was standing outside his office, deliberating whether what she was about to do would lead to something or backfire spectacularly on her. She had her hand poised, ready to knock on his door, when it was flung open from inside and the man she had intended to ask for dinner appeared, red- faced and blatantly furious.

He blinked upon seeing her, some of the anger evaporating from his face. "What is it?" he asked, trying to keep the bitterness out of his voice. "It can wait," she replied, "I can see you're busy. Do you mind if I ask what's wrong?" She was curious to know what was causing his anger; if it was her or her boys then she wanted to know. "It's not you, it's…me." He smirked a little, realising the cliché in that sentence. He liked how she could make him relax so easily.

She smiled, her only thought at that moment being to bugger reputation and gossip because she genuinely wanted to get to know the real Robert Strickland. "You know I still haven't properly thanked you for rescuing me, what with being focused on the Collins case, maybe we could still go out to dinner?" she asked, leaving the question hanging in the air. He sighed. "Sandra, I don't think it's appropriate that we spend time together outside of work. I'm sorry." He said, more firmly than he'd intended. It hurt him to see the fleeting look of rejection and confusion in her eyes, but he had to do it, for her sake.

All she said was "okay" before leaving him alone in the corridor. Admittedly, she wasn't used to hearing her own excuses for rejecting him being directed back at her, but what really troubled her was that she couldn't understand why he'd done it. She couldn't help but think of all the times when he'd hinted that they should go out together, without discussing work- why would he refuse her offer now?

Returning to his office, slamming the door behind him and sitting down heavily at his desk, he wished he could somehow travel back in time to prevent the last few minutes from ever happening. All he could see was the pain in her eyes, even if it was only for a brief moment before she managed to steel herself. He tried to reassure himself that she would soon grow bored of him when she learns what a failure he really is, when she finds out that he isn't as wealthy as he pretends; when she discovers the real him.

In the meantime, he would act as if nothing had ever happened in order to protect her from the misery he seemed to bring into everyone's lives. But then, as always, the niggling voice appeared at the back of his mind. She sees you every day, how can she forget you? What if it actually could work out well this time? Following his instincts for once, he practically sprinted down to the UCOS office in the hope that she would forgive him.

_A/N: I'm planning on writing the final chapter in the next few weeks. Please feel free to review x_


	3. Chapter 3

_A/N: Well, here we go with the third and final instalment! Apologies for the delay in posting this, real life is a pain sometimes._

_Disclaimer: Think of the fun I would have if I owned New Tricks…unfortunately I can only dream._

All thoughts of the bureaucratic prat who had been the source of his earlier anger were behind him as he raced to the UCOS office. He desperately needed to explain to her the reasons for what he had said, to apologise for the hurt he had caused her and, most importantly, to ask if she could forgive him. In a moment of clarity, he realised that trying to protect her had only backfired on him, had caused both of them pain, instead of the happiness which, quite frankly, they both deserved after all the crap they'd both been put through over the past few years.

He may have lost his wife, children and most of the money he'd practically fought his way up the promotional ladder to earn, but he'd tried to get them all back, just like he would try to make things right with Sandra.

Running down the stairs to the UCOS basement, he looked through the glass in the door directly in front of him, unable to see the familiar blonde figure in the room. He burst through the door, greeted by three clearly surprised pairs of blue eyes. Suddenly realising that he must look terrible after his sprint down five corridors and four flights of stairs, he decided to break the awkward silence so he could get out of there as fast as possible.

"Where's Sandra?" he asked, still catching his breath. It seemed he wasn't as fit as he thought.

"She said she was going to talk to you about that conference next week," the youngest of the trio piped up.

"Oh, she did, but…she must have gone out since I suppose. Never mind." He replied quickly, making a hasty retreat out of the room and back up the stairs.

"What the bloody hell was the matter with him?" muttered Gerry.

Jack turned in his chair to face him. "One word: Sandra."

Trying to rationalise his thoughts, he decided to try the car park. Sitting in his car was something he did when he wanted to escape the bustle of the Met, or more specifically the gossip.

Crossing the car park to her usual parking space, looking for her silver Audi, he thought of what he could possibly say to persuade her to give him another chance. It wasn't going to be easy, things never were when it came to Sandra, but he was determined to right his mistake. He finally spotted her, sat behind the steering wheel, scrolling idly through her phone to make it look like she wasn't hiding out in her car.

She was so focused on this charade that she jumped a little when he tapped lightly on the window. Obviously apprehensive about what had the potential to happen in the next few minutes, she reluctantly put the window down.

"Sandra, we need to talk," he began gently, "Can I sit with you?"

She sighed and nodded her head almost imperceptibly. He opened the unlocked car door and slid into the passenger seat.

"Go on then, talk away," she said, deciding to take the sarcastic route.

"I will if you look at me first, I need you to understand why I said what I did," he challenged, taking the gamble that her copper's curiosity would take over.

"Just cut to the chase." She replied bluntly, eyeing him with slightly narrowed eyes. His gamble had paid off.

"Look, you must know that I've…had feelings for you for years now," he opened, choosing his words carefully, "but you don't know the real me. You think I'm a rich bastard who is only motivated by politics, drives around in a flash car, is a member of a sailing club and all that, don't you?"

She opened her mouth to reply but then paused for a moment, clearly thinking about her words as much as him. "I think you're rich and posh and your car is very flash but I don't think that you're a bastard at all. You're a decent bloke who clearly loves his kids, I know that much. Would I have asked you out if I did?"

He laughed a little at the last part, but really he was touched that her opinion was different from everyone else's. "Probably not, but although my car is flashy I'm really not that rich, or posh. I lost most of my money when Lynne divorced me and I've had to work all the hours that God sends to get it back. I'm a member of the sailing club for reputation- politics pays the bills, you see."

She was confused but at least she was looking him in the eye now. "Why do you need to get all the money back, can't you just work enough to get by?" He sensed there was going to be a 'like normal people' tagged on to the end of that question, but it never came.

"Lynne demands that I pay the kids school fees and send them money, it was part of the custody agreement. Basically it's the only way I can see them," he admitted, "Twenty grand a year for each of them isn't cheap."

"What? How can she do that?" Sandra exclaimed.

"It seems she can do whatever she bloody wants. Her partner is a family lawyer, he manages to find every legal loophole in the book." He shook his head, still finding himself in disbelief at the situation, even after five years. Of course his children were his main priority, he wanted the best for them, but he wasn't blind to the fact that he was basically being blackmailed by his ex-wife.

Her hesitant hand rested on his shoulder gently. He looked up to meet her brilliant blue eyes. "I'm so sorry, I didn't realise how much you'd been through. I knew it was a bad divorce but I'd no idea she was doing that," she started to apologise before he cut her off.

"Listen, you weren't to know, I've hidden it well. Anyway, I thought I was the one apologising to you for turning you down like that. I just wanted you to know what you were taking on, that's all, I promise." he explained, waiting for her response. He was glad to finally get everything off his chest- she was now the only person who knew the extent of his problems over the last few years.

"Well, seen as we both feel like we need to apologise to each other, how about we go out for dinner tonight?" she asked for the second time that day, however this time without the nervousness in her voice.

He laughed. Apparently all had been forgiven.

"How could I ever say no to that?"

_A/N: I hope you've enjoyed this, thank you so much for all your lovely feedback. And I did my research, it's true about the £20,000 a year boarding school fee! Honestly, what is the world coming to…_

_Eden x_


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